Pusadee Sagunteo. Frontal symmetrical facial esthetic perception and treatment decisions : the differences among dental professionals, orthodontic patients and laypeople . Master's Degree(Orthodontics). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2006.
Frontal symmetrical facial esthetic perception and treatment decisions : the differences among dental professionals, orthodontic patients and laypeople
Abstract:
Frontal facial symmetry is the major component of facial esthetics. However,
comparative study on perceptions with regard to treatment decisions of various groups
involved on this issue has been lacking. This study aims to compare perception and
treatment decisions of orthodontists, orthodontic students, oral surgery students,
orthodontic patients and laypeople on frontal symmetrical facial esthetics.
One hundred and twelve dental professionals (40 orthodontists, 40 orthodontic
students, 32 oral surgery students), 40 orthodontic patients and 40 laypeople were
recruited. A frontal facial photograph of a Thai female subject was modified to
achieve the highest degree of symmetry. The freeware WinMorph 3.01 was then used
to distort the lower one-third of face to produce a series of images, of which the chin
points were moved away from the facial midline leftwards and rightwards at intervals
of 0 mm, 2 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, and 10 mm. The assessors were asked to score
each image for symmetry, using a modified 6-point Likert’s Scale (0-not deviated, 1-
least deviated, 2-less deviated, 3-average, 4-more deviated, and 5-most deviated), and
evaluate the treatment necessity of each images
‘Less deviated’ was found to be the most reliable point of differentiation
among assessor groups and was used as the point of reference. The orthodontists were
the most sensitive in detecting deviation, followed by orthodontic students, laypeople,
orthodontic patients, and oral surgery students. The mean distances in differentiating
right-deviated pictures were 4.05, 4.40, 5.42, 5.78, 6.00 and in left-deviated pictures
they were 3.60, 4.15, 5.00, 5.19, and 5.93 respectively. Using the Analysis of
Variance, it was revealed that there was no significant difference of treatment
decisions among the groups of assessors. The mean distance indicating need for
treatment was 7.39 mm and 6.92 mm for right and left deviated pictures, respectively.
There were some differences in degree of sensitivity which related to
professional factors that affect the ‘acceptable range of deviation’ among groups of
assessors. However, it did not seem to affect treatment decisions which were similar
in all groups of assessors